Chemical Mechanical Polishing. Chemical Mechanical Planarization, grinding, cutting, and lapping, collectively referred to herein as “polishing,” are key manufacturing technologies for shaping various ceramic and metallic materials. Chemical Mechanical Polishing/Planarization is a process of smoothing surfaces with the combination of chemical and mechanical forces. It can be thought of as a hybrid of chemical etching and free abrasive polishing.
After polishing, the sample surface can be treated using chemo-mechanical suspensions of, for example, colloidal silica (0.125 micron) or aluminum oxide (0.3 micron). A slurry suspension comprising one or more abrasives suspended in a polishing composition is pumped continuously over the sample surface.